World cheese championship in Madison draws entries from across the globe

MADISON – With global cheese consumption continuing to rise, entries in the World Championship Cheese Contest come from the far reaches of the world. Places like Sri Lanka and Australia.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, global cheese consumption is projected to reach a record 21.6 million metric tons, or 47.7 billion pounds, this year. Compared to 2023, global cheese consumption is up 1.2%, and compared to 2019 it's up 5.7%. Individual consumption is pegged at 42 pounds per person worldwide, and 35 pounds per person in the United States, which means somewhere in the world, somebody's eating a lot of extra cheese.

European producers have dominated the No. 1 cheese category over the last couple decades (although American producers rack up a lot of wins in the individual classes), but dairy promoters like Russell Smith of Dairy Australia in New South Wales see value in tough competition.

Selection of the World Championship Cheese will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, with the event livestreamed at WorldChampionshipCheese.org.

"That's what these competitions are about. This is an exercise in how good is your cheese, where are the faults, how can you improve them?" he said. "I'm hoping Australian producers that are entered here, they'll be spurred on to look at how other people scored, see how they scored. I'm hoping they'll go, 'we want to win the world cheese championship,' and hoping they'll want to improve their product.

"It's very important for just raising the bar."

Australia entered 65 items in this year's contest in Madison, its most ever.

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"The competition here is so stiff, to win a category here it's got to be a top-quality cheese. I'm not expecting to see them on the winning platform, but I hope they do well," Smith said.

There's plenty of evidence that doing well in the world and U.S. championships, held in alternating years, is good for business, said John Umhoefer, executive director of competition host Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

"There's no financial prize at all. It's morale. They want their team to know they did something special. And then it's the marketing. It absolutely puts them on the map. They'll find their whole stock bought out for a year," he said.

Umhoefer said the impact in especially pronounced for small producers, some of which sell out a year's supply after a win, or find themselves doubling the size of their factory.

American producers usually account for two-thirds of the more than 3,000 entries. Europeans contribute about a 1,000 entries, with the rest coming from a handful of other places, like Sri Lanka, which wins the prize for most unusual entry, Umhoefer said.

"The Japanese have started to make a strong showing the last two contests," he said. "Australia really decided this year to go all in. But Sri Lanka is the most unusual. The milk was pretty normal, but having it arrive from Sri Lanka is something new and different."

Australia was a large exporter of cheese until drought conditions caused a milk shortage. Tasmania, the second-biggest milk-producing state is experiencing drought this year. Last year, Victoria, the biggest milk-producing state, was in drought. This year Victoria is getting rain; Tasmania isn't.

"Most of our cheese is domestic consumption," Smith said. " We are still a couple billion liters short (of milk) for the year."

Smith said Australians produce good stretch Gouda cheeses and blue cheese. Then, being in Wisconsin, he threw down a gauntlet.

"We make very good cheddars. As good as anything here, I think," he said.

In fact, as of Wednesday afternoon, Australian's did score first-place finishes in three classes, although none of them were for cheddar.

Northeastern Wisconsin producers racked up several firsts as well, including:

• Patrick Doell, Agropur, Luxemburg, low moisture mozzarella, whole milk

• Kevin Benzel, BelGioioso Cheese Inc., Denmark, BelGioioso Sharp Provolone Mandarino

• Arla USA Team, Arla Foods, Kaukauna, Castello Creamy Havarti

• Renard's Rosewood Dairy Team, Rosewood Dairy Inc., Algoma, Renard's Cheese Savory Morel & Leek Cheese Spread.

Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: World's best cheese decided Thursday from more than 3,000 entries